Sport policy development in New Zealand: Paradoxes of an integrative paradigm Research Completed
Title
Sport policy development in New Zealand: Paradoxes of an integrative paradigm
Lead Author
M Sam and S J Jackson
Organisation(s)
University of Otago
Publication Year
2004
Publisher
International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 39(2), 205-22.
Contacts
Abstract
Sport policies are underpinned by particular interpretive frameworks or paradigms . These paradigms shape: a) the construction of policy problems, b) the alternative approaches to resolving these problems and c) what is considered to be an acceptable government intervention. This article investigates how a policy paradigm shaped the findings and recommendations of New Zealand’s Ministerial Taskforce on Sport, Fitness and Leisure. Using empirical data gathered from observations of the Taskforce’s consultations, interviews, and a review of public submissions, it is argued that a paradigm (stressing rationalisation and integration) served as the basis for recommendations to reduce the number of regional sports trusts, to centralise control, and to coordinate the administration of sport. Two fundamental contradictions and paradoxes arising from this paradigm shift are discussed: historical contingencies that gave rise to the problem of fragmented sport delivery structures; and the appropriateness of centralising powers given the inherent need for specialised (and autonomous) delivery mechanisms.
Keywords:
central government, management, physical activity, policy, politics, sports